Review of The Raven (2012) by Ola G — 13 Feb 2013

In 19th century Baltimore, Maryland, several policemen burst into an apartment to discover a murdered woman sprawled on the floor. Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) is called to assist in the investigation and discovers that the crime resembles a fictional murder in the short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". The alcoholic writer Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack) has returned to Baltimore in hopes of winning the hand of the beautiful young Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve). However, Emily's father, Captain Hamilton, despises Poe and threatens to kill him if he tries to see Emily. Poe is brought to see Fields for questioning and is horrified to learn someone is using his stories as the backdrop for a series of murders. Fields then proposes that Poe volunteer his services. The two men are called to investigate the murder of literary critic Ludwig Griswold. Poe realizes the gruesome crime resembles a scene from "The Pit and the Pendulum" as Fields notices a red demon mask near the corpse. The two then deduce that the scene of the next crime will take place at Captain Hamilton's annual masquerade ball. Fields assigns several members of the Baltimore Police to go undercover as guests at the Masked Ball. A man on horseback dressed in a skeleton costume appears. Fields shoots the man only to learn he was an actor hired to deliver an anonymous note. Poe then realizes Emily has been kidnapped. In the letter, the killer leaves clues to Emily's location but promises to killer unless Poe writes newspaper columns publicizing the crimes. Poe and Fields needs to figure out where Emily is captive and at the same time catch the killer...

The plot of "The Raven" is fictional, but the writers based it on some accounts of real situations surrounding Edgar Allan Poe's mysterious death. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to the man who found him, Joseph W. Walker. He was taken to the Washington Medical College, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition, and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own. Poe is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. Some sources say Poe's final words were "Lord help my poor soul." All medical records, including his death certificate, have been lost. Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain" or "cerebral inflammation", common euphemisms for deaths from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a mystery. Speculation has included delirium tremens, heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation, cholera and rabies. One theory, dating from 1872, indicates that cooping - in which unwilling citizens who were forced to vote for a particular candidate were occasionally killed - was the cause of Poe's death. I like the idea how the writers have incoporated fiction with real events in Poe´s life and "The Raven" is intense, well-paced, wellmade and intriguing. The fact that Edgar Allan Poe was quite of a character and writer sets a solid ground to the story and the timeperiod is very rich and interesting. And John Cusack is not too shabby as Poe. But, I reckon as some reviews points out, the lack of a compelling resolution makes "The Raven" a bit "that was it?".